Deescalate with Iran: Free the Irbil Five
Robert Naiman at the Huffington Post makes a good point regarding the five Iranian officials who were in Iraq by invitation from the Iraqi government but detained by US forces. Naiman calls for their release:
…the Iraqi government has called for their release. The Iraqi government is sovereign, right? If the Iraqi government is sovereign, then they get to decide to invite Iranian officials to their country, and whether such officials should be arrested or released. The U.S. is putting pressure on its Arab allies to respect the sovereignty of the Iraqi government. How about setting a good example by respecting the sovereignty of the Iraqi government ourselves?
Here’s another reason: Iraq and Iran say the officials were “credentialed diplomats.” The U.S. disputes this. Is it really in the interest of the U.S. to play hairsplitting games about who is entitled to the protection of international treaties concerning diplomats? Seems like that’s just the sort of thing that could come back to bite us.
Irancove @ November 3, 2007